Monday, January 21, 2008

unattached

First of all, let me just say, “If you could see what I see” outside the window of my caffeine portal. I’m looking out across calm waters reflecting the bitter cold, dawn approaching, radiant blue skies. On the far side the lights of the early morning ferries glow in the foreground while an, out of season, golden moon drops low in the sky, broken only by the outline of the jagged snow covered mountains that seems to swallow it. Within just a few brief minutes, the scene has changed, the mountain snow glows a sunrise red and I’m left with the realization that I could have missed this moment. Like many others who are intent on dealing with the reality of Monday, I frequently get caught up and miss the morning greeting cards that lay out before me each day.I could just as easily miss it. However today I’m a bit more aware of my surroundings. I’ve begun a stretch of vacation. It’s not an ordinary vacation either. First of all, my gorgeous wife and I will spend the next 10 days at the “happiest place on earth”… or so the phrase goes. I’m not sure about happiest, but it’s pretty far up there. I’ve had previous experience. We’re going to Disney World. Not land, not Euro, not Universal Studios, or anything else. We are going and staying and being spoiled and living like irresponsible Western consumer driven kids at the happiest place on earth. Trust me, I’ll feel guilty for a moment or two, until I realize that as spoiled as this might seem , I’ll probably still be on the bottom of that particular economic pile. Unlike most that will surround me though, I’ll be doing it without melting our credit cards, so therefore I’ll probably enjoy “happy” much longer after I’ve left.Now trust me, I can only take so much happy. I’m sure that by day 5 or 6, I’ll be wanting to slap one of the perpetually happy inhabitants of this other world. I wouldn’t choose to be there, or anywhere really, for such a long period of extended play time. For this particular trip, half will be work related while my wife is at a conference being held there. Only half is really vacation for her. I’m going to try to get an early jump though while she’s busy. I’ve already gotten an early start by making the decision not to take my trusty travelling keyboard.This may not seem like a big deal to you, however, this is the first trip I’ve taken without this particular attachment to my being. In fact, the whole reason I have this one is that the last time I took a trip without one, the one left behind was stolen while I was gone. I get great satisfaction thought knowing that the thief now has a unit hopelessly outdated while mine is still relatively young. It really wasn’t a difficult decision to leave it behind though. My mind was made up when I read that I would be charged extra for internet access while living a life of luxury at the Disney resorts. What the heck? First of all, I personally feel that anyone anywhere who is charging for internet access is attempting to pick my pockets. Secondly, these are not Motel 6’s that I’m staying at, they are Disney resorts. Perhaps they feel that those who spend the money to inhabit the happiest place on earth will never miss the extra fee hidden in the “incidentals” on their bills. It’s a matter of principal for me. If I’m giving them a significant part of my earnings, I’m certainly not going to pay for the same service that nearly every independent purveyor of caffeine in my part of the country provides free with a grande’ drip. I have standards you know. Don’t cry for me though, because I’ll still be waking up at Disney with a gorgeous wife who will be having more fun than any one human should ever be allowed to have. It really wasn’t a hard choice. No airport security hassles, room for more books, and an absence of spam for 10 days has settled remarkably well for me. Consequently, for any of you who read this every Monday, you need to know that I won’t be writing anything whatsoever for two weeks. It’s not that you’re not worth it, but I’ll have more pressing things to attend to, like which ride I’ll need to get a Fast Pass for.